TheFinn88

The function exists, I've used it a lot. Haven't flown the DC-6 in quite a while, but when I remember correctly, I had to press the middle mouse-button (scroll-wheel) while hovering over the right-hand knob to change the input from COMM to NAV.

Thanks for all of your kind words! I also did some flights on other planes on some occasions (mainly the outstanding Leonardo MD-82), but I ended up in the cockpit of the DC-6 again. It's just my very favorite aircraft! Because I'm flying online, and a lot of airways and airports just have RNAV waypoints and routes, I'm using the GTN GPS from Flight1 for navigation. But when there is a departure or arrival route, which can be flown with VORs or NDBs only, I use them instead. Makes much more fun indeed than just using the GPS! Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by "HS" or "uni"? Sure, here you go: Always smooth and really slow movements on the throttle-levers and master RPM lever, for me it takes about 10 seconds to reach takeoff-power from idle. Only use full takeoff-power (with ADI) if really needed, e.g. due to short runways, obstacles/terrain around the airport or of course due to a heavy load (I always have a look at the required runway-length charts in the manual). For example; when I take off in the Netherlands on a 8'000ft runway, I would push my engines to just about 50" MAP for takeoff as this will be enough to get airborne there. Our DC-6 has red markers on its BMEP and MAP gauges, use them. The first and lower red marker is max power without ADI, the second and higher marker is max power with ADI, and depending on air pressure an temperature you will hit either the max BMEP or the max MAP first, so keep an eye on both gauges when setting takeoff-power. After takeoff, reduce power to METO (196BMEP/2600RPM) as soon as possible (when clear of obstacles near the runway). And as soon as you're cleaned-up (gear/flaps up) and you reach 140 KIAS, reduce to climb power (I mostly use 165BMEP/2400RPM). Always check your CHT and set cowl-flaps accordingly. For takoff and whole climb I mostly stick to a 3° setting which keep the CHT just below 200°C. In cruise, after setting cruise power, I set them to 0° or -2° depending on OAT at cruise-altitude, so that the CHT stays between 180°C and 200°C. After reducing to descent-power (I always use cruise RPM @ 25" MAP), Close them completly (-4°). But don't forget to open them when you reach your initial approach altitude and add power again! For the final approach I set them to 3°. Never go above cruise-power on auto-lean mixture. For blower-shifts during cruise (which have to be done every 2 hours) I always use auto-rich mixture, just to be sure. For the descent and approach, never go below square (e.g. keep MAP above 22" when your RPM is set to 2200). You can also use your BMEP gauges for this, one of them (#3) has a red marker at 70, so always keep enough power so that the engines run above 70 BMEP. If you can't make the approach/landing with positive power because your'e either too high or too fast, go around and try again with a lower altitude/airspeed. Don't try to force her down. To slow her down for the final approach, I always calculate in a 10nm segment of straight level flight into my descent-planning so that I'm able to slow down from about 200 to 170 KIAS before reaching the IAF. As soon as I hit 170 KIAS, I drop flaps to 20° which helps me to keep the speed slow enough. If she doesn't want to slow down to 170 KIAS (happens to me on some occasions), I set RPM to 2400 early and go for minimum BMEP (70). Because a high RPM setting on low altitudes will actually slow you down. If flaps are not enough to keep the airspeed low , drop your gear for additional drag. The DC-7 had a "speed-brake", which when activated dropped the main landing gear (nose gear was kept retracted). When outside air-temperatures are below 15°C and I fly through some kind of moisture (e.g. rain, fog, clouds) I add some carb-heat to prevent carb-icing. The Levers set at 1/4 to 1/3 is enough to keep the carb-air temperatures above 20°C. Never let the carb-air temperatures go above 40°C while heating. If carb-air temperatures drop below -10°C, you won't run into icing problems anymore. There's a yellow arc on the gauge, which shows the "problem-zone" where you can run into carb-icing. For the final approach, set carb-heat to cold. RPM setting for the final approach: 2400 When using reverse-thrust, I never go above 30" MAP, this is enough power to slow her down. And by the way, I also killed some engines in the beginning after starting to fly all manual.

I'd also love to see this new feature in the DC-6!

Hi guys! I wanted to share some impressions from my ferry flight, which started in Fairbanks Alaska and ended in my home-town at Bern Switzerland. Thanks again to Jan for his great Kar Air liveries, which he created on my request! All flights, a total of 15, were flown on IVAO in real-time and with real weather (Active Sky). I had great fun in the six, and learned alot while flying her across several countries and the atlantic ocean. Total time in the air was 37.6 hours, and total distance flown was 8'742 nautical miles. The engines now have 40+ hours, and they're still all green without having them serviced! I'm handling them all by myself, as I'm not using the AFE. The route was as followed: Fairbanks (PAFA) - Anchorage (PANC) - Juneau (PAJN) - Ketchikan (PAKT) - Everett (KPAE) - Jackson Hole (KJAC) - Sioux (KSUX) - Chicago (KMDW) - Pittsburgh (KPIT) - Nantucket (KACK) - St. Johns (CYYT) - Narsarsuaq (BGBW) - Reykjavik (BIRK) - Prestwick (EGPK) - Southampton (EGHI) - Bern (LSZB) This is where all started, on the Everts tarmac in Fairbanks: A shot out of the cockpit where I was in cruise from Anchorage to Juneau: The next shot was taken in cruise over the pacific while flying from Ketchikan to Everett: And here I was taxing to the runway for departure at Everett, with brandnew Boeings in the background awaiting their new owner: Approaching Jackson Hole with a nice view out of the cockpit: This one was taken over Chicago while approaching Midway airport: On short-final into Chicago Midway: Nice view on those mighty Pratt&Whitney R-2800 engines after landing on Nantucket island: In flight above the eastern coast, on the way to St. Johns: Aprroaching Narsarsuaq Greenland: On the way from Greenland to Iceland at dusk: Descending towards Iceland while it's getting darker, I just love this panel-lighting: Flying through typical english weather right after departing Prestwick: Close-up view with nice engine details on the last leg from Southampton to Bern: And the final shot after landing in Bern while backtracking to the apron with engines 1 and 4 already turned off: Now I'm going to fly to several destinations all around europe out of Bern, Zurich or Geneva. So if somebody else is flying (or controlling) on IVAO too, you might come across OHKDA.

You're so right! My preferred cruise altitudes for longer flights are between 17'000 and 19'000 feet. Just had a look into the performance charts yesterday and made some calculations. My last flight would have took about 20 minutes longer at a lower flight level (7000ft @ 500lbs/hr instead of 17'000ft @ 540lbs/hr), without considering the wind). Yes my per hour fuel burn would have been little lower, but as I would had flown for 20 more minutes, I would have burned that "saved" fuel right away. But on the other hand, when I start flying around switzerland (e.g. LSZH-LSZB), I'll keep the altitudes rather low (maybe around 6000ft) as these are very short flights, and this way my passengers can see much more of the countryside.

I was cruising at 13'000ft, so I started my descend at the first waypoint with the first expected altitude at RENZO. But before I started my descend, I decreased my airpseed to 140 KIAS and dropped my flaps to 20° as soon as I was below 170 KIAS. With flaps set at 20° and an airspeed of 140 KIAS I had a descend rate of about 800 fpm, and I was able to cross MOTIF at 10'000ft and the Joliet VOR at 6000ft. I was also quite light with a LGW of about 72'000 lbs. I use navigraph charts for my flights, and they state the minimum visibility (6000m) and minimum cloud base (1500ft) required for a approach into BGBW. And I actually didn't took into account the missed approach requirements, good that I didn't have to go around. I landed there before the sun went down, and I wouldn't recommend to fly in there at night with the DC-6! The departure out of BGBW is also very interesting. There are two options, one is to directly intercept the 277° bearing out of the NA NDB, and the other one is to fly a 360° to the right within the 3NM arc of the NQ DME. I flew the 360° departure, and after that you have to correctly lign up on that 277 bearing, as this will keep you over the water and between the mountains. So I had to fly about 7 minutes into the wrong direction and climb to 7100ft (MSA) before turning back to the NA NDB and continuing my flight to BIRK. Also don't take off below take-off minimums, as you desperatley need visuals for that 360° turn. I had few clouds at 900ft, where I punched through some of them while making that 360° turn. But I always had visual to the airport and the surrounding terrain, still it was very marginal... My next leg will be from BIRK to EGPK. And by the way, regarding the DC-6 at LSZH: I've found a video of the RB DC-6 landing in LSZH on runway 28 with live ATC. They called in "established ILS 28" on a nice sunny day, I think that answers my question of whether the RB DC-6 is flown VFR or IFR into LSZH.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge! I'm already flying to these "rules", good to know that I'm on the right track! My engines now have about 35 hours, and they're still green. The PMDG DC-6 indeed is a real joy to fly!

Thanks for your informations. I'm in the air right now, cruising at 17'000ft and power settings according to the 1100 BHP chart (2230RPM@139BMEP). My GTN650 tells me, that the density altitude is 16'200 feet, and that I have a TAS of 244 knots. And when the speeds on these charts are indeed in knots , then thats pretty spot on! According to the chart, I should get a TAS of 246, which is just 2 knots off. Also KIAS is spot on and my fuel-flow needles are right where they should be. I actually made myself an excel-sheet, which computes the fuel required for a certain flight (taking take-off, climb, cruise, descend, average wind, fuel-flow, etc. into account). On my last 4 hour flight, my fuel calculations were just 200 lbs off (and that because I havn't added up the long approach path to my flight distance). And I'm only flying at high altitudes on my ferry-flights from Alaska to Europe, in order to stay above most of the bad weather. As soon as I get "home", I'll also fly at lower altitudes.

Hi I'm a litte bit confused because of the power-setting charts provided in the PMDG manual. Lets take an example: The cruise altitude will be at 17'000ft, with OAT at -20°C and GW at 80'000lbs. According to the "Speed Power Table" on page 285, this results in a density altitude of 16'000 feet, a power-setting of 1100 BHP and a TAS of 247 knots. Now when I go to the "Level Flight Cruise Chart / 1100 Toruqemeter Horsepower" on page 291, I get a different TAS when entering the chart at the density-altitude of 16'000 feet and GW between 87'500 to 77'500 lbs. This chart states 259 mph (as the TAS on this chart are published as statute miles per hour), convertet to knots I get 225. That's a difference of 22 knots. I don't know which number I should use for flight-planning. Do you guys use the TAS on the "Torquemeter Horsepower" charts on pages 290 to 293, or do you use the TAS out of the "Speed Power Table" found on page 285? And my second question is about the BMEP drop. There are some mentions in the manual about a BMEP drop (e.g. on the "Power Curve" chart on page 287). What exactly is a "2" or "12" BMEP drop? How do I get a "2" or "12" BMEP drop? Is this used when leaning the engines manually?

I had no problems with sticking to the MOTIF6 STAR with the PMDG DC-6, I was able to comply with all the "expected" altitudes displayed on the charts, but I had to plan way ahead and make some calculations for it to work. Most of the time I use the "VCALC" function of the GTN650 installed on my DC-6, works quite well when you set your required altitude at the IAF as target altitude, then a descend rate of 500 FPM and lastly a 10NM offset before the planned waypoint, so that you are able to slow down below max. flap extension speed before passing the IAF. But you have to make sure that you won't descend below MSA in order to thet to the IAF (e.g. in a mountainous area). If I'm face with such a problem, I request a hold with descent clearance to the IAF's minimum required altitude before continuing the approach. If you're searching for an interesting and challenging approach for the DC-6, try BGBW (Narsarsuaq, Greenland). I've landed there last week. Did the NDB/DME-1 approach for runway 07. Aircraft that are not able to fly the steep approach path (5.6°) have to overfly the threshold and then make a 360° turn to the left. That was fun in the DC-6, as you don't have much time to lign up to the runway on short-final after flying that 360° turn!

Nice! I'd love to see more pictures!

Thanks for the hint Rob! Seems to work with me too, although on yesterdays flight my GTN activated the approach mode on its own... Thats why it sometimes worked, and sometimes not.

How about the water-pressure gauges? What values do they show when you're at takeoff-power? Also manifold-pressure and RPM at takeoff-power would be good to know. Are you using some kind of a shader-addon for P3D? Because I once had lighting problems with the DC-6 while using PTA from SimTweaks. After switching to ENVSHADE, my lighting problem was gone...

I was cruising at 15'000ft, so it was in the range what you call a normal cruising altitude. And turboprops flying the CVA.MOTIF 6 arrival at KMDW are expected to cross DIPSY (the first altitude restriction on this route) at 13'000ft (jets at 15'000ft). So I don't see any troubles in flying that STAR with the DC-6 too. Sure ATC might have vectored me on a different route (as I've already written in my earlier post), but there was none online, in such a case I stick to a STAR that the DC-6 is able to comply with. There are loads of STAR's that have altitude restrictions above 20'000ft (e.g. the ENDEE 4 arrival at KMDW that starts at FL240 up to FL330), some airports have alternative STARs with lower altitide restrictions, and some airports don't. In such a case I take a look at the approach charts and search for the IAFs. Some of them have a VOR near to them (or the VOR might even be the IAF), and I'll pick that as my last waypoint of my route. But if there is a STAR like the CVA.MOTIF 6, I at least try to fly it. Flying VFR is fine, but I would like to see you flying the VFR approach routes for LSZH with the DC-6, which are solely meant for small aircraft! Even if you could comply with them, your PAX would be screaming in the back. I always wondered how big aircraft fly VFR in and out of a controlled airport? Lets take LSZH again, it has published visual approach routes and waypoints, but they are really only meant for small single or twin engine piston aircraft (and maybe the JU-52), and it has pretty small holding patterns (with a speed restriction of 90 knots) and quite sharp turns which in my opinion the DC-6 can't handle because she's flying much faster. But the Red Bull DC-6 has already been many times at LSZH, and I suppose that they flew VFR. But how is it handled? Are they vectored by ATC in and out of the CTR when they can't stick to the visual departure and arrival routes? Or do they get special clearances, e.g. to fly direct to the visual departure waypoint by ignoring the published routes? This is one reason why I mostly fly IFR, because I really don't know how a DC-6 is flown VFR in todays controlled airspace as most of the published routes are meant for small aircraft only. And the other reason is because I'm flying in real time and on evenings, it's mostly getting night before I get to my destination (especially during the winter)... And Switzerland doesn't permit night VFR flights (only on some occasions during the summer).

A little addendum to my post after my yesterdays flight into KMDW. The MOTIF6 STAR requires to cross MOTIF at 10'000ft and the next waypoint MINOK at 6'000ft, with just 15.6 nautical miles between them. For this STAR I slowed down to 170 KIAS and dropped my flaps to 10° before starting the descend from 13'000ft to 10'000ft between the BDF VOR and MOTIF. Just right before MOTIF I reduced my airspeed to 160 KIAS and dropped my flaps to 20°. In this configuration I was able to achieve a descend rate of about 800 feet per minute while keeping 160 KIAS. With an airspeed of 160 knots you need about 5.8 minutes to cover these 15.6 nautical miles, while you have to descend 4000 feet. At a rate of 800 feet per minute, you'll require 5 minutes to descend from 10'000ft to 6000ft. So this can be done, but only with a good descend planning and some drag extended. When you would try to fly the MOTIF6 arrival in clean configuration, you won't be able to comply with the altitude restirctions. With an airspeed of about 180 KIAS at 0° flaps and a descend rate of about 500 feet per minute, you would require 8 minutes to descend from 10'000ft to 6'000ft while you would reach MINOK after just 5.2 minutes. Maybe with additional drag by also extending the landing gear, you are able to achieve an even greater rate of descend. I havn't tried this yet. Also I was quite light at a gross-weight of just 73'000 lbs. Don't know how the six would perform heavily loaded. And in a controlled airspace (I always fly on IVAO), the ATC probably would vector you on a different route to get you out of the way for faster planes.

I just saw that some of the DC-6 repaints that were solely available on aussiex have recently be uploaded to AVSIM (e.g. both of the Kar Air liveries). Still sad that aussiex went down, had loads of great stuff!

Hi there! Interesting story! But I don't think that fuel was a problem, otherwise you wouldn't have made it to the netherlands. I think that the weather was the only problem and because of this they zig-zagged through the UK. Maybe they had weather reports that would have let them land at some other airport in the UK, but when they got there it already went below minimums, so they continued to the next airport, and finally ended up in the netherlands just like many others when there were so many planes stacked up at schiphol. For the faulty gyro I can tell a story by myself. I was on a educational trip as a flight student with another flight student and a flight instructor for one whole week. We started our trip with a Piper Archer II (HB-POW) out of our homebase Biel-Kappelen (LSZP), and have already been on Corsica (via Sion-Valance-Cannes to Calvi) and on Minorca (via Cannes-Alès-Girona to Mao). On the third day we were heading for Mallorca on a clear and sunny day, when I was flying the plane on a heading of about 260 degrees with the island of Mallorca right in front of me, when the gyro started to turn slightly. I first thought that I went off course and started to correct by turning slightly to the left, but the gyro kept turning, so I corrected my course again. This kept ongoing until my flight instructor asked me where the hell I was going to! I was so fixed on correcting my course, that I didn't notice that the island of Mallorca already was to my right side and we were heading south. I defenetly learned something that day, to sporadically cross-check the gyro with the magnetig compass! So we landed safely in Mallorca with a dead gyro and had to fly back to Switzerland with the magnetic compass only. As for your story, I can imagine that a faulty gyro brought your plane off course and straight into a mountainous area, so that they had to throttle up and pull up the plane before crashing into the mountains. Seemed to be a very close-call! But I don't think that they were able to fix it in flight. The DC-6 actually has several seperate gyros, one for the captains side, one for the first officers side, and the autopilot also has got its own gyro. I suppose that the gyro from the autopilot failed and brought the plane off course, and the pilots were fixed on solving the problem with the aupotilot and didn't notice that they were off course until they saw an obstacle right infront of their windows... And I suppose that they continued the flight without the autopilot and flew the plane manually.

Hi! I also had some troubles, but I've found some tricks to fly into airports around central europe: 1. Look out for alternative STARs, maybe search for a route around your destination and approach it from the other side where you maybe won't need steep angles. 2. Decrease your airspeed/power before you start your descent, this will prevent an IAS of 200+ KIAS, so that you just need about 10nm of level flight to slow down to the magical 174 KIAS to lower gears/flaps. 3. If required, I slow down to 170 KIAS and drop the gear before starting the desent. The DC-7 actually had an "airbrake" lever, which dropped the main landing gears to achieve steeper descend angles (apparently they learned something from the DC-6). 4. If you see that you won't make the required altitude and speed in time, ask ATC for a hold before the FAF. It's easier and much less annoying to fly some holding patterns for descending and slowing down than to make a go-around or even crash the plane by forcing it onto the ground.

Good to know that powerbacks are prohibited, thanks for the info. And also for the info regarding the simplified A/C system, it's no big deal to me. And actually the six keeps me busy enough, as I'm handling the engine by myself instead of using the AFE. Here's a screenie from the second leg I've just finished succesfully (PANC-PAJN). Juneau has got an interesting approach, and the 8 knot tailwind didn't make it easier!

Really nice to hear that the increase in oil consumption with engine wear is modelled! Thanks for the info! I flew the first leg with OH-KDA from PAFA to PANC two days ago. Planning to fly the second leg from PANC to PAJN this evening (on IVAO). But I've found some problems with the air-conditioning unit though... It doesn't seem to work as the real deal, also the mixing-valve position indicator is showing some unlogical position, e.g. for heating up the cabin. I've found a description about the A/C-system of the DC-6 on the internet. In this description, the mixing-valve has three ports, A, B and C (which corresponds to the gauge in the PMDG DC-6). Port A is cold air from the cooling turbine, port B gets cool air from the cabin superchargers which has been cooled by the aftercoolers, and Port C gets hot air from the cabin heater. So when I start with a cold&dark plane and a cabin temperautre of 65°F, and then fire up the cabin-heater and set up a cabin temperature of 75°F, the needle of the cabin mixing-valve moves right into the midde of ports A and B (between cold and cool), and the cabin heats up to 75°. But why is it heating up when the mixing valve is between cold and cool instead of cool and hot? Doesn't make sense to me... For heating the cabin up, the needle of the mixing valve should move right up to a position somewhere between ports B and C. And powerbacks are not working for me either. Parking brakes are released, I go into reverse, and even at light weight and full reverse power the plane refuses to back up.

Hi! Lovely screenshot! I once flew KSNA-KMDW-CYYT-EGPK-LSZH with the Balair livery. I topped up my engine-oiltanks at CYYT before crossing the pond, and I never had to use the oil out of the AUX-tank. But my engines were still quite new. Maybe if the engines have run for some more hours, the oil consumption might actually rise and you are going to need the oil out of the AUX-tank. Don't know if this is modelled though, as I've never observed this. And on some occasions I was forced to automatically refill all the oil-tanks by creating a new Scenario, because my saved-flight was corrupted. But I think that I'm going to make me a list, where I can write in the oil-consumption per hour per engine, so I'm able to find out if the oil-consumption rises with the rising number of hours on an engine. What I really like about the PMDG DC-6 is, that every engine burns or loses a different amount of oil, even though when all four are brand-new! I'm planning to do a second ferry-flight, this time with OH-KDA (Kar Air livery) and out of PAFA with some more stops and shorter legs to LSZH.

AWSOME! Thank you so much, they're perfect!

Hey Jan, She's looking beatiful, I love it! Really nice work on that one, and I'm really looking forward to them! Thank you so much to bring her in the colors of Kar-Air!

Very beautiful paints Jan! They look gorgeous! As a finn, I would love to see the DC-6 in the colors of Kar-Air (OH-KDC / http://www.globe-air.ch/bigpicture/picture_id/13692).

The fluids are only saved when you save the scenario. As soon as you re-select the DC-6 via menu (either after loading a flight, or directly from the startup-menu), the fluids are always topped-up. I made a ticket regarding this about a month ago, and it has been forwarded to the developers. But I don't know if it will be implemented in a future update. I hope so, because I've got the same problem as you have. After some flights and using up a lot of oil (so I could once use the oil from the aux-tank), the scenario-file gets messed up and I have to start from new.